title: "HIV isn't me…": HIV+ adolescents' experiences in a positive context of support and treatment.
abstract: We describe the experiences of a sample of Canadian HIV+ youth whose intact adolescent identities contrast sharply with the expected identity challenges of persons living with a serious, chronic disease. We first showcase the positive HIV+ identities emerging from the successful management of HIV+ status through long-term HIV-related medical care and established pharmaceutical regimes. Second, we describe the medical, familial, and broader social context of support in which these adolescents' are negotiating HIV. Finally, we highlight the youth's expectations of future, specific identity and role challenges regarding intimacy and sexuality-related to disclosure of their private HIV+ identities and their embodied HIV+ status. Continued social and medical supports will be key to their emergence into adulthood as healthy HIV+ persons; with such supports, these youths' experiences highlight the capacity for living optimally with HIV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, ON, Canada. periballantyne@trentu.ca
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Risio
authors.forename: Peri J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Ballantyne
authors.forename: Stanley E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Read
authors.forename: Reina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bendayan
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D003376:Counseling / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D055815:Young Adult